Rachael De Foe, 31, works as a fractional head of communications.
Courtesy of Rachael De Foe.
In late 2019, Rachael De Foe was burnt out, so she took a leap of faith that many dream of but never do: she quit her nine-to-five job without anything lined up.
The Singapore-native had spent the past few years working in public relations at various companies, from large agencies to smaller boutique firms.
“Every single business was chasing what I now like to call the ‘agency monster’ … You have too many clients, so you need [a bigger] team. You have too many team [members], so you need more clients. There’s never equilibrium,” De Foe told CNBC Make It. “I had burned out more than once.”
One day, she realized that she couldn’t picture herself in her bosses’ shoes. “That’s just not the life that I wanted. So that’s when I decided to quit at the end of 2019,” she said.
Today, the 31-year-old works as a fractional head of communications through her public relations and communications company, Redefy, which she started in 2020. What she didn’t expect was that this leap in the dark would eventually allow her to more than triple her income.
She went from making $72,000 Singaporean dollars (about $56,000) in her nine-to-five job to about $220,000 a year as her own boss, according to documents verified by CNBC Make It.
‘I had no plan’
After leaving her job, De Foe thought she was going to take some time to decompress during the holiday season before finding another job in the new year.
“I had no plan, if I’m being quite honest … my plan was to figure it out,” she said. “At first I [thought] maybe I should look for a different job. But every time I looked at other jobs in the market, it just wasn’t interesting, and I could see the same patterns happening again.”
Then, all of a sudden a global pandemic hit in early 2020.
“I’ll be honest, it was actually really scary at that point of time, because I think two of the functions [first] to be cut [during an] economic downturn, was both PR and HR … so in my mind, I was like: ‘Oh no, what am I going to do?”
However, this also presented a new opportunity for De Foe. As companies downsized and cut their PR and communications teams, many ultimately had to find leaner solutions.
“At the peak of Covid, essentially, I had founders and VCs reach out to me saying something along the lines of: ‘Rachel, we just got rid of our agency, but we have this reputation problem … Can you solve this problem?'” she recalls.
What started as some ad hoc freelancing turned into the next chapter of her career. She incorporated her own company and became a fractional head of communications.
Why choose fractional work?
While freelancers are hired to execute specific projects or hourly tasks, fractional workers are more embedded into a business — often helping to lead the overall strategy at a company. Also, as opposed to a permanent or staff employee, fractional workers contribute on a part-time basis for multiple businesses or clients.
“As a fractional head of [communications] … I’m completely responsible for the communications function of a company. But because the company may not [need] a full time person, it’s really up to me to make my own hours,” De Foe explained.
“I answer to three CEOs, but I’m my own CEO at the same time,” she said.
Going fractional has allowed De Foe to escape the cycle of burnout she experienced earlier in her career, she said. Instead of continuously chasing more clients or needing more people on the team, she now gets to choose whether or not to take specific clients or projects.
“In the past few years, it’s been very interesting to see the shift in fractional as well, because people who used to be seniors at companies that I’ve worked for have started going the fractional route too,” said De Foe.
She says that fractional work can make sense in a services-based businesses, because “you are the service,” she said.
“You are the person that people want to work with, right? So it doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting under a [bigger] company or [if you’re working alone]. People are looking for that interaction with you, and if you have [the experience or seniority], that’s enough to start on your own,” she said.
Her typical client load ranges from three to five companies at once. This model of working has not only afforded her more autonomy, but also more money.
In the past five years, she’s earned more than $1.4 million Singapore dollars (about $1.1 million), according to documents verified by CNBC Make It.
“I’m never going back to one boss,” said De Foe. “I’m a lot happier. I’m a lot more fulfilled, and I think more than anything — I feel like I can give myself the permission to chase the things that I want to.”
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